FG is Yet to touch any Lagos PHC, says NMA on Health

The Chairman, Medical Guild, Lagos, Dr Babajide Saheed, in an interview with one of our correspondents, has said he was not aware of any intervention from the Federal Government at any of the primary health centres in the state.

“They have not touched any primary health centre in Lagos State since that declaration in 2017. The only revitalisation I’m aware of is the one that has been done by the Lagos State Primary Health Care Board,” Saheed said.

A source in the Lagos State Ministry of Health, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said out of the over 300 PHCs in Lagos, about 291 were functional.

The Publicity Secretary of the NMA, Lagos, Dr Moruf Abdulasam, said he was not also aware of any Federal Government’s intervention in any PHC in the state.

But the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Primary Health Care Board, Dr Tayo Lawal, in an interview with one of our correspondents, said, “The Federal Government is doing a lot of things. What they are doing mostly is within the basic health care provision fund. One per cent of the consolidated revenue will be given to health care.”

The Federal Government had, in 2017, begun the National Primary Healthcare Revitalisation Initiative with the aim of resuscitating over 10,000 health centres across the country.

Two years after the Federal Government’s promise to revitalise 10,000 primary healthcare centres across the country, many states have said they are still awaiting the central government’s intervention.